


Not Today. Not Tomorrow.

by SoVeryAverageMe



Series: The Colors of Home [1]
Category: M&M's Commercials, TV Commercials
Genre: Angst, Apologies to Casablanca (1942), Crack Treated Seriously, Drinking, Established Relationship, Found Family, Friendship, M&M's March Madness 2017, Multi, PDWT, Pining, Unrequited Love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-26
Updated: 2017-03-26
Packaged: 2018-10-11 03:46:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,913
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10454268
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SoVeryAverageMe/pseuds/SoVeryAverageMe
Summary: Blue knows that he's not the happiest guy in the world. His temperament can be too harsh and his bitterness too palpable. For some reason, the others decide to stick with him anyways. It was only natural that he fell in love with some of them along the way. It's just too bad that Red and Yellow are too in love with each other to notice his pining from afar.A story of friendship, lost love, and maybe finding happiness in between the heartache.(Written for M&M's March Madness 2017)





	

**Author's Note:**

> Written for week 2 (Angst/Family) of [M&M's March Madness](http://mms-fanworks.tumblr.com/) on tumblr.
> 
> Tangentially inspired by Casablanca (which is a great film and nothing at all like this fic). 
> 
> Anyways, this kind of got out of hand, but I hope you enjoy it!

Blue was alone… again.

This had been a reoccurring circumstance since Brown and Green had gotten together. It wasn’t that Blue was bitter about his friends’ happiness, it was just that Blue was a bitter person in general.

Okay… So he might understand why his friends don’t voluntarily spend that much time with him. But it really wasn’t his fault. Green and Brown had been in love with each other since forever. They were just an inevitability of time and unresolved sexual tension. Orange had that weird thing with Pretzel that none of them liked to think about, but we’re all silently supportive of. And Red and Yellow… well… everyone knew that they were perfect. Perfect has friends and perfect as lovers. So goddamn perfect. All the goddamn time.

There he goes again, getting all bitter.

The point is: There’s a reason why no one ever designs anything with seven wheels. It would be stupid.

Okay. Maybe he was a little… jealous. It’s not like anyone has to know about his desperate pining from afar. They can just go on about their happy lives free from any blues. God, he hates himself. A color pun? Really, Blue? Pathetic. Get your act together, man.

Get his act… together? Maybe that’s not such a bad idea. For once in his damned-eternal life he’ll get off his bitter high horse and put his heart on the line. That seems like a lot of work, though.

In the back of his mind he sees that smile that Red gives Yellow when he thinks no one else is looking. The smile that transforms his all-knowing smirk into something so very much softer and genuine. He thinks of Yellow’s rolling belly laugh and the way that the two of them sit so that their hands can brush under the table. He thinks of their shy exchanged smiles and the hearts evident in their eyes.

He wonders what it would be like to have all of that directed at him. If, in 9 out of 10 chances their friendship ends up in ruins, is it still worth even trying?

No. He shakes his head. They’re worth everything.

* * *

Blue knows that he is too often jaded about the world and the shitty hand it’s dealt him, but there are moments, few and far between, that he wouldn’t change for _anything_.

The ones where it’s the six of them crammed onto a too small couch, watching a too loud television; a mish mash of limbs and warmth. The ones with the bowl of popcorn that will soon be forgotten in exchange for laughing at D-list movies. The moments where it feels like he and his five best friends can take on the entire world.

The ones he cherishes the most are the ones where he doesn’t feel so alone.

A light slap hits the back of his head. “Blue. You’re missing the best part,” Red smiles playfully, “What’s gotten into you?”

He freezes from the full force of Red’s smile directed at him. “Nothing,” he says while shaking his head, “I was just thinking.”

“About what?” Yellow asks sleepily from where he rests in Red’s lap, his legs across Blue’s and his toes tucked under Orange’s thighs.

Blue takes a moment to look around him. From his friends curled up on top of each other, the movie playing in the background, and then back to the curious look on Red and Yellow’s faces. He smiles. “Nothing important.”

The two of them are satisfied with the non-answer and turn their attention back to the screen. Blue snuggles deeper into the couch and leans against Red’s arm. He slides his arm up Blue’s back and around the back of his head. He feels Orange lean up against him.

Blue closes his eyes and under the sound of onscreen explosions he can hear the sharp intake of breath from Orange, the vibrations of laughter from Red and Yellow, and the whispered giggles between Green and Brown.

He smiles again and lets the moment wash over him in which time seems to slow. There is no one in the world except for the six of them. These are the moments that make him want to see the good in the world. The ones that make him want to _try,_ if only for a little while.

The moment passes.

* * *

He hates feeling like he’s the third wheel in Red and Yellow’s relationship. Even when they assure him that they want him there, it always feels like he’s intruding on something personal; something that should just be kept between the two of them.

Yellow ushers him into their living room and hands him an extra controller. He hears a ding from the kitchen and Red pops his head out into the living room. “I’m just going to slice up the pizza. You two can start without me.”

“I’m so glad that you could come over Blue,” Yellow says giving him a bright smile, “It’s been forever since the three of us managed to get together. I need someone to help me double-team Red in Smash.”

Blue laughs, feeling lighter than he has in ages. “How’d he get so good anyway?”

“He says it’s natural.” Yellow rolls his eyes and then lowers his voice to a whisper, “but I caught him playing it at 3AM once, when I got up to get a drink of water. I think it’s actually an addiction.”

“Hey! Don’t bad mouth me to Blue,” Red says, coming in with a plate of pizza and flicking Yellow’s nose with his free hand, “They’re all lies.”

“It’s not like I don’t know all his bad habits already,” Blue smirks.

“Ugh. I hate when you two gang up on me,” Red says trying to sound exasperated but the smile on his face gives him away.

“You won’t be smiling after the two of us crush you in Smash.” Blue says.

“That would mean a lot more if it didn’t take two of you to beat me,” Red retorts. The three of them break out into laughs before Blue catches a look between Red and Yellow. The three of them get quiet after that.

Red looks at Yellow again. “Blue.” He looks up to find Yellow looking at him seriously. “We didn’t just invite you here to play videogames.”

Blue narrows his eyes and gives the two of them an inquiring look. This level of seriousness was already way too high for their usual banter. Red grabs Yellow’s hand and then gives him the biggest smile that Blue’s ever seen. A flurry of looks run across their faces, too fast for Blue to catch.

“We’ve…” They look at each other again and Blue motions for them to get on with it already. In his wildest dreams, he couldn’t have imagined what came next.

“We’ve decided to get married.”

A series of emotions runs through Blue. Shock. Excitement. Happiness. Heartbreak. “Oh my god, guys. That’s amazing.” He pastes a smile on his face that’s somewhere between genuine happiness for his two best friends and a glamour for his despair. “Congratulations! When did this happen?”

“Just a few nights ago,” Yellow says smiling, “Red proposed at our weekly date night and it… well, it just felt like it was time.”

“We wanted you to be the first to know,” Red chimes in.

Blue thinks back to all the moments that he’s caught between them. He’s gotten to see his two best friends fall in love with each other over and over again. Of course, they would eventually get married. They were perfect for each other. Always so damn perfect for each other.

Nope. Nope. He could not allow himself to ruin this moment with his jaded bitterness. This was not the time for that. He takes a deep breath and then smiles, big and bold.

“I’m so happy for you guys.”                 

Red and Yellow look at each other again. “Actually, there’s one more thing.”

Blue raises an eyebrow. “What more could there be?”

“We want you to be our Best Man,” Red says. He moves his free hand to Blue’s knee. “There is no one we would love more to have by our sides on this day.” Blue feels the tear in his heart get a little bit bigger

“Both of your Best Man’s?” Blue asks.

Yellow coughs, “I know it’s a little weird, but when we sat down to think about, the choice was really obvious. There is no other Best Man in our lives that’s not you.”

Blue stumbles over his words, in shock or excitement he can’t tell. “Of course. There’s no couple who deserves it more than you two.” It’s a lie so true that it doesn’t even taste sour on his tongue.

The rest of the day passes like any one of their other get-togethers. They stuff hot pizza into their mouths, scream at the television, and nearly spill soda all over the couch. At one point, Yellow dives across the couch, landing on Blue’s lap, as if the action will save his character on screen, Red laughs at them before inputting a tricky set of inputs that’s sure to kill them both, and Blue scrambles to get his controller back from where it went flying. They play late into the night, gradually squishing themselves closer and closer together on the loveseat.

They’re about to pack up and call it a night, when Blue speaks up. “Let’s play it again, for old time’s sake. This could be the last time we play while we’re all still bachelors.” He knocks his side into the others in a joking manner and smiles. Light blushes cover the couple’s faces, but they humor him with one last match.

He’s really going to miss this, the three of them together. Yellow and Red are perfect with each other, and more importantly, they deserve each other. He can’t ruin that because of some stupid, childish infatuation.

Loneliness settles over him, even squeezed in between the two of them, he feels isolated. He swallows and pushes the feeling aside. He won’t let himself ruin the few moments he has left. Instead, he focuses on the warmth and laughter of the two bodies beside him.

He focuses on the feeling of _home._

* * *

Blue learns that the wedding planning process is a lot more complicated than it seems. There’s invitations and venue visits and catering and guest lists and gift registries. They’re also on a tight deadline, because Red and Yellow decided that they didn’t want to wait any longer than necessary to finally be married to each other. The weeks fly by as if he was in a montage from a cheesy romance film.

He’s in the midst of sorting through RSVPs and possible seating charts when he hears a knock on his apartment door. That’s weird. He knows that Red and Yellow are doing at a cake-tasting today, and no one else ever went to his side of town. He gets up to answer, barely saving a pile of RSVPs from falling to the floor, and finds Green and Brown standing outside his door.

“Uh… Hello?” Blue rubs his eyes wondering if too many hours of seating charts can make someone hallucinate. “What are you doing here?”

“What? We can’t pay a visit to one of our dearest friends?” Green asks.

He narrows his eyes in suspicion. “In all the years we’ve known each other, neither of you have ever visited me. I don’t think that you two have even set foot on this side of town.”

“Poppycock. You live three streets down from the best hot yoga studio in the city. You know, the one next to the dog spa with the red carpet outside that always has the cutest—”

“I think he gets what you mean Darling,” Brown interrupts, “Anyways, aren’t you going to invite us inside?” Blue opens and closes his mouth several times, before giving up on a witty retort and awkwardly waving them inside.

He moves the papers off the living room table and ushers them to sit down. “Do you guys want anything to drink? I don’t have much. Water, coffee… oh, and I think I might have some leftover wine somewhere.”

“We’re both fine. We actually came to talk to you.” Blue grabs a glass of water for himself before returning to the living room. Green and Brown have squeezed onto the oversized recliner, so he takes the beanbag chair across from them.

“What did you want to talk to me about?”

Green and Brown give each other a look, before turning back to him. “It’s about the… you know—” Green gives him a head nod as if this entire exchange was supposed to make sense, instead of being in a secret code of face gestures.

“What in Mars are you talking about?”

Green begins to give him more suggestive winks, but Brown sighs and cuts her off, “We’re talking about how you feel about Red and Yellow.”

“What I feel?” Blue had long ago locked up whatever possible feelings he had in an impenetrable box, at least until after the wedding was over and his duties has Best Man were completed, “I’m elated for them.”

Brown closes her eyes and takes a breath as if trying to calm herself, while Green tries to gather her thoughts, “It’s just… we know that you and them are well…” Blue continues to give them blank stares.

“You’re in love with them,” Brown states.

Blue gulps and looks down on his lap, before shaking his head. “No. I’m not.”

“Either you’re really that dense or you’re more of self-sacrificing idiot that I thought,” Brown says, “and I always seem to underestimate how idiotic you boys can be.”

“It really wouldn’t matter even if I was.” Blue lets out a pitying laugh. “They’re getting married. To each other. To forever be in a monogamous relationship.”

“Blue-y, don’t be so down about it,” Green smiles, “Maybe you should tell them how you feel.”

“And how would that help?” Blue asks incredulously, “I lose my two closest friends and maybe ruin their marriage in the meantime. I didn’t take you for being so cruel Green-y.” Blue knows that he was hitting below the belt, but he didn’t want to think about that. He had already missed his chance and he was willing to live with the consequences. Why did these two want him to stir up drama?

“She just wants you to try,” Brown placates, “The two of us didn’t think we’d end up together and look where we are now.” She takes a moment to look at Green and he can tell the moment that they get lost in each other’s gazes. The second that their eyes landed upon one another time seemed to stop for the two of them. It was just unfortunate that it happened in _his_ apartment.

“I love that you love each other, but if we could move on with this conversation, please?” Blue asks, snapping the two out of their love-struck reverie. The two of them have the decency to look sheepish, after all, it was _his_ love life they were supposed to be talking about.

“Look, we both care about you, and we don’t want you to regret not telling them how you feel.”

Blue places his head in his hands and sighs, before looking back up at them. “I know you two have my best interests at heart, but maybe not today and maybe not tomorrow, but eventually I would regret telling them. Every little fight or argument, every time something goes a little wrong, I would blame myself. I can’t do that to them.” He shakes his head. “I can’t do that to myself.”

Thankfully, both of them take that has a cue to change topics. The rest of their visit is as ordinary as an out-of-ordinary visit can be. They make small talk, carefully avoiding the subject of the upcoming nuptials. He asks them about their decision to move in with each other, and in return gets asked about his work. They joke about the latest celebrity gossip that they all pretend not to pay attention to and, even more surprisingly, share cooking tips.

He had never spent time with just the two of them before, but he finds himself enjoying it. They end up pulling out that half-bottle of wine he had stashed and by the time they leave, he’s been invited to their new apartment so they can repay the favor.

He thinks that this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship.

* * *

The weeks leading up to the wedding pass in a blur. Blue offers up his apartment as a storage space and in doing so, finds himself surrounded by boxes of party favors, tulle, and name placards. Somewhere in between he goes to Green and Brown’s new apartment to unwind and Orange finally introduces Pretzel formally to the group. He gets a promotion at work and ends up working longer hours, but it’s worth it when the salary increase allows him to buy Red and Yellow a custom Kitchen Aid for their wedding gift. And then, almost without any of them noticing, the day is upon them.

Blue finds himself running from dressing room to dressing room. The grooms had decided that they would walk down the aisle at the same time, and it was his job to coordinate the entrances. He barely has time to fit into his own rented suit and manages to have just enough time to check the mirror one last time to make sure his bowtie is straight.

Green and Brown walk down the aisle ahead of them, while Orange and him follow behind. Once they reach the altar, the Wedding March starts to play and the grooms enter from opposite doors. Their eyes meet and their smiles are radiant. They meet in the middle, sharing a chaste kiss, and then continue to the altar.

The ceremony feels like a combination of his wildest dreams and his worst nightmares. He’s not ashamed to admit that he cried, in fact, most of the audience had cried at their handwritten vows. In Blue’s case, they were tears of joyful happiness and those mourning lost loves. A bittersweet ending to the loves of his life who had found love in each other.

After the ceremony, whilst Red and Yellow of swept away to sign the legal documents that will officially wed them, Blue prepares the reception. There’s no reprieve until someone shoves a microphone into his hand and tells him it’s time to give his toast.

He fumbles with the piece of paper folded in his breast pocket and smiles out at the crowd of friends, family, and even some minor celebrities. Everybody wants a piece of Red and Yellow – they had so much kindness, warmth, and love to share with the world. Blue knows firsthand what it’s like to have their very presence light up your life.

He swallows once and looks up at the encouraging smiles of the grooms before starting.

“Out of all the lives in the world, I was lucky enough to have these two come waltzing into mine. There are so many wonderful, wonderful memories I’ve made with them and some of the best ones are when I got a front-row seat to watch them fall in love.” Blue tells his favorite stories of the two of them. He recounts inside jokes, forgotten memories, and every moment they forgot to photograph because they were having too much fun. It’s as much his story as it is theirs. “So, here’s looking at you two. I hope that you make a million more memories together.”

He raises his glass and pretends the sting is from the alcohol, instead of from his heart.

* * *

Blue languidly makes his way across the dance floor to the bar. He perches himself on a stool and orders a Red Wedding. He tries to ask for it with a straight face, but the sheer ridiculousness that are “signature wedding cocktails” never fails to amuse him. He feels someone settle into the seat beside him and hears Orange order a Yellow Wedding. They both sit in silence until their drinks arrive.

Orange takes a sip before inciting conversation, “So how does it feel?”

“I’m glad it’s over,” Blue laughs, “It’ll be a lot less stressful and I’ll get my apartment back.”

Orange rolls his eyes, “Not about that. I mean, the fact that you were just Best Man for the two people you’re in love with.”

Blue chokes on his drink and feels Orange pat him on the back to try to calm his coughing, “You too?”

“I’m pretty sure that the only people who don’t know is them,” he laughs and smiles in way that makes his face softer than his usual anxious grin does, “Even Pretz asked about it that night after I brought him to meet you guys.”

“Am I really that obvious?”

“You look at them…” Orange pauses, unsure at how to explain. “You look at them like… like they look at each other.”

Blue blushes. He knows how Red and Yellow look at each other – he’s fantasized at having those looks pointed at him. He’s lucky that they’re so lost in each other’s love, because it would have been blindingly obvious even to a stranger how he feels, if Orange’s telling the truth.

Orange shakes his arm. “You still haven’t answered.” He raises his eyebrows, “How do you feel?”

Blue knocks back the rest of his drink. “Numb. I love seeing them happy. All I want is for them to be happy but,” he sighs and shrugs half-heartedly, “but—”

“You wish they could be happy with you,” Orange completes, a small frown on his face.

Blue rolls his eyes and scoffs. “Don’t pity me.”

“It’s just kind of sad.”

“Lots of life is sad, but this?” Blue starts, “This is a wedding between the two people I want to see happiest in the world. That’s not sad at all.”

Orange stares out at the dance floor where Yellow and Red seem lost in their own world. “Don’t you wish they knew?”

“Sometimes I wonder what could have _been_ in a different world. A different life. But—” Blue smiles, “—I think I got something back from this whole wedding thing too. We’ll always have our memories together, and to see how they keep each other going. To be invited into the inner sanctum of their lives even for a little bit. That’s something that I wouldn’t change for the entire world.”

The two lapse into silence after that. The alcohol loosens them both up and soon they find themselves being pulled onto the dance floor. Green grabs his hand and gives him a twirl gently knocking him into Red and Yellow. They pull into the circle and he finds himself loosening his bowtie. The six of them are at the center. Of the dance floor. Of the Universe. _Of Everything._

Maybe in a different life they were supposed love him the way he loves them. But he didn’t get that life. Instead, he’s in the body of a bitter, jaded, hopeless fool who found people that, for some reason, love him anyway. He doesn’t know if the pangs in his heart when Red and Yellow look at each other will ever completely disappear, but for one night… For this night, he thinks he can forget them.

**Author's Note:**

> Find me on tumblr [here](http://soveryaverageme.tumblr.com/)!
> 
> ngl, I finished this and wanted to change the names and fandom in order to make it a "serious" fic, but it's March which means M&Ms win out. 
> 
> I don't think that this is anyone's fault but mine this year. 
> 
> Thanks for reading!


End file.
